The Ottawa River appeared on Canada's old $1 bill.The Ottawa River appeared on Canada's old $1 bill.

1,271

Length of the river in kilometres

7,400

Width of the river in metres at its widest

15

Width of the river in metres between Lac des Outaouais and Dozois Reservoir

370

The elevation drop in metres over its length

90

Depth of the river in metres at its deepest point at the Carillon Reservoir

1,950

Average flow in cubic metres per second at Carillon Dam

8,190

Maximum flow in cubic metres per second at Carillon Dam

14,630,000

Area of drainage basin in hectares

1613

The year Samuel de Champlain travelled up the river into Canada's interior

50

Number of major dams throughout watershed

13

Number of principal reservoirs through watershed

30

Number of water monitoring stations in watershed

6

Number of water monitoring stations on river itself

764,000,000

Estimated volume in litres of raw sewage spilled into the river in Ottawa, Aug. 4-15, 2006*

562,500

The number of dollars the City of Ottawa was fined for that spill

1

The Canadian dollar bill that used to carry an image of the Ottawa River

Sources: Ottawa Riverkeeper, Ottawa River Heritage Designation Committee, National Capital Commission

*According to an agreed statement of facts from court proceedings related to charges laid against the city under the Ontario Water Resources Act. The city previously reported that 1.2 billion litres of raw sewage ended up in the river, but part of that represented a normal overflow, not a spill.